Teaching-focused academic appointments in Australian universities: recognition, specialisation, or stratification?

Since 2009 there has been a consistent upward trend in the number of academic staff being reported to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISRTE) as ‘teaching-only’. The growth of teaching-focused appointments is part of an international trend that many see as inevitable, namely the unbundling of previous academic roles and increasing differentiation within the academic workforce. Among the agreed driving forces behind this unbundling are: the demand for much greater levels of participation in higher education (from mass to universal), the pressure to provide for lifelong learning opportunities, increased competition from private providers, and the radical potential of [information technology] IT.

This report for the Office for Learning and Teaching uses DIISRTE data on teaching-only appointments in Australian universities to describe their growth, their distribution by institution, and in those universities with significant numbers, their distribution by discipline and level. The report uses a case study approach to identify the range of policies being used to shape the appointment and career opportunities of teaching-only staff, and discusses the likely impact on the quality of teaching and learning in different institutions, as well as the status of teaching in the wider academic culture.

Excerpts from publication. Show less